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Stateside Gooner: Anti-anti-football

By Chris Toronyi

Amazingly enough I'm not writing about RVP, but a late blog on the Euros. Yes, I could weave RVP into the discussion, but that's for others to write about who are better informed than me. What's done is done. FORWARD.

Okay, back to the Euros. What a tournament it was! The favorites of the tournament, of course I'm talking about Spain, delivered yet again with a style that includes precision passing and a commitment to defense that I believe is their strongest asset.

The passing - with its amazing touches and angles - is an incredible circus on its own. They've taken it to such a level that people are referring to it as anti-football. It seems the phrase anti-football is thrown about whenever one seems to not emotionally respect the play. We're so caught up in the HOW, we forget about the other side of the HOW and more importantly, the WHAT.

The WHAT Spain has delivered has been three major trophies in row and the other half of the HOW is a defense that is second to none. They play with pace and picture-perfect spacing that feeds their defense when they lose possession.

The speed and determination to get the ball back was beautiful to watch. Angles were cut off, short passes were not an option. It was relentless. It was pragmatic. And it was beautifully designed and executed.

For me, their defense won the tournament, with a splash of oh-so-boring passing.

'Stateside Gooner' Chris Toronyi is a longtime Arsenal supporter and the host of The Arsenal America podcast, available every Thursday evening at ArsenalAmerica.com. You can read more of Chris' thoughts on Twitter.

The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Arsenal Football Club or Arsenal Broadband Ltd.

Copyright 2016 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source

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